Kroger appears to be back in the "Marketplace" business: New store in Heber, UT

[SamSpade]

This was featured in an email newsletter related to food news from The Salt Lake Tribune, new store coming to the Heber Valley. This will likely be a welcome addition. The main box store in this area has been Walmart. This will be a replacement for a traditional Smith's.

... promises of scratch-made donuts! That would be something. The image of the storefront is interesting. It includes the 'fruit basket' and the Smith's word but with the peaked roof could accommodate the Kroger wordmark at a later date.
https://www.kpcw.org/heber-city/2023-05 ... ndbreaking

[BatteryMill]

Kroger has still been chugging along with Marketplaces lately, mostly at their Rockies divisions (Fry's, Smith's, King Soopers) with at least two opened in the past year.

[babs]

There is a rumor that Fred Meyer is sniffing around the area of Roy Rogers Rd just outside Tigard, OR for a new store in this high growth area that lacks any Kroger presence. My guess is that this would be a smaller marketplace store than a regular Fred Meyer.

[storewanderer]

Smiths opened a Marketplace not too long ago in Henderson, NV. There is a little less recent Marketplace in Northwest Las Vegas. The Henderson Marketplace has way, way less general merchandise than any other Marketplace I've ever seen.

Smiths also opened a Marketplace in St. George, UT within the past 4-5 years.

Overall I find Smiths to be quite committed to the Marketplace format. I find it odd they haven't tried to do one in Albuquerque yet and am disappointed they haven't tried one in Reno yet.

Meanwhile out in Idaho the situation continues in Twin Falls with Smiths and Fred Meyer a few blocks apart and in Pocatello with Fred Meyer and then a Smiths in Chubbuck a few miles away. Both very old Smiths that have received fairly extensive remodeling in recent years but despite it still seem like very old Smiths.

[Super S]

There is a rumor that Fred Meyer is sniffing around the area of Roy Rogers Rd just outside Tigard, OR for a new store in this high growth area that lacks any Kroger presence. My guess is that this would be a smaller marketplace store than a regular Fred Meyer.

Fred Meyer's growth has been stagnant. There have been a handful of proposed stores such as the one in Centralia, where the process drug on so long that they walked away. WinCo is now pursuing the site.

They need to open a few locations around the eastern part of Oregon....where Walmart operates...they have virtually no presence in this area of the state, despite having stores in both eastern Washington as well as Idaho.

[babs]

There is a rumor that Fred Meyer is sniffing around the area of Roy Rogers Rd just outside Tigard, OR for a new store in this high growth area that lacks any Kroger presence. My guess is that this would be a smaller marketplace store than a regular Fred Meyer.

Fred Meyer's growth has been stagnant. There have been a handful of proposed stores such as the one in Centralia, where the process drug on so long that they walked away. WinCo is now pursuing the site.

They need to open a few locations around the eastern part of Oregon....where Walmart operates...they have virtually no presence in this area of the state, despite having stores in both eastern Washington as well as Idaho.

They recently walked away from a second Bend store next to the new Costco. They have growth opportunities for additional stores but for some reason the Northwest has been deemphasized for new stores.

[storewanderer]

There is a rumor that Fred Meyer is sniffing around the area of Roy Rogers Rd just outside Tigard, OR for a new store in this high growth area that lacks any Kroger presence. My guess is that this would be a smaller marketplace store than a regular Fred Meyer.

Fred Meyer's growth has been stagnant. There have been a handful of proposed stores such as the one in Centralia, where the process drug on so long that they walked away. WinCo is now pursuing the site.

They need to open a few locations around the eastern part of Oregon....where Walmart operates...they have virtually no presence in this area of the state, despite having stores in both eastern Washington as well as Idaho.

They recently walked away from a second Bend store next to the new Costco. They have growth opportunities for additional stores but for some reason the Northwest has been deemphasized for new stores.

They're even less interested in new stores in California than they are in OR/WA.

I think the last new (non relocation) store in CA was the Oakland FoodsCo in 2014.

And they did almost nothing in UT the entire 2000's but have caught up toward the mid 2010's in UT.

[bryceleinan]

There is a rumor that Fred Meyer is sniffing around the area of Roy Rogers Rd just outside Tigard, OR for a new store in this high growth area that lacks any Kroger presence. My guess is that this would be a smaller marketplace store than a regular Fred Meyer.

Fred Meyer's growth has been stagnant. There have been a handful of proposed stores such as the one in Centralia, where the process drug on so long that they walked away. WinCo is now pursuing the site.

They need to open a few locations around the eastern part of Oregon....where Walmart operates...they have virtually no presence in this area of the state, despite having stores in both eastern Washington as well as Idaho.

They recently walked away from a second Bend store next to the new Costco. They have growth opportunities for additional stores but for some reason the Northwest has been deemphasized for new stores.

From what I could piece together of the planning discussions with that new shopping center, it sounds like the City of Bend wanted some more multi-family development, and the only way that could happen was to sacrifice Fred Meyer's land in the process. Plus, with the potential merger, Kroger would have to give up some stores, and probably does not make sense to build a new Freddy's, at least until the merger stuff gets settled.

[storewanderer]

Fred Meyer's growth has been stagnant. There have been a handful of proposed stores such as the one in Centralia, where the process drug on so long that they walked away. WinCo is now pursuing the site.

They need to open a few locations around the eastern part of Oregon....where Walmart operates...they have virtually no presence in this area of the state, despite having stores in both eastern Washington as well as Idaho.

They recently walked away from a second Bend store next to the new Costco. They have growth opportunities for additional stores but for some reason the Northwest has been deemphasized for new stores.

From what I could piece together of the planning discussions with that new shopping center, it sounds like the City of Bend wanted some more multi-family development, and the only way that could happen was to sacrifice Fred Meyer's land in the process. Plus, with the potential merger, Kroger would have to give up some stores, and probably does not make sense to build a new Freddy's, at least until the merger stuff gets settled.

Best path forward in the Pacific Northwest is Fred Meyer. A new Fred Meyer would easily be worth the sacrifice of a couple Albertsons and Safeway units.